French GP: Little change in FP2 for Williams Racing


By Andrew Hooper
June 19 2021

Despite the return of George Russel for the session there would be little in the way of change in terms of the positions of the Williams Racing drivers with George Russell and Nicholas Latifi finishing the second Friday practice session in France down the order in 17th and 18th positions. Both drivers would complete soft tyre runs folllowed by a split tyre evaluation between the pair later in the session. 

 
 Williams Racing French GP Friday 2nd Practice
 
Latifi
 

Team Summary:
With the start of the second Friday practice session for the 2021 French Grand Prix would see a rush of drivers coming out with the majority on the medium tyre. Both Williams cars were running as times started to be set and it would be Bottas quickest with a 1m:32.880 running on the medium tyre. Verstappen was second followed by Perez, Norris, Alonso, Raikkonen, Vettel, and Stroll eighth. But the order would rapidly change with Hamilton now second ahead of Verstappen and Perez. Ocon was fifth followed by Norris, Alonso, Raikkonen, Gasly and Vettel tenth.

With debris coming off the Red Bull of Verstappen's car the Virtual Safety Car would be delayed to remove this. With the session going green Alonso was able to move up to sixth. Leclerc was now seventh followed by Norris, Sainz, and Ricciardo now tenth. Bottas was now running on the soft tyre but he would not improve on his earlier quickest time. Both Williams cars would return with both on the soft tyre. On the soft tyre Ocon was now third while the Williams drivers were 17th and 18th. As more soft tyre times weer set Hamilton was now second followed by Alonso, Raikkonen, Ocon, Verstappen, Gasly, Perez, Leclerc and Vettel tenth.

Verstappen was able to find pace setting a 1m:32.872 to move to the top of the times. Despite changing their order the Williams drivers would remain 17th and 18th. Twenty minutes remaining and those drivers out on track were still on the soft tyre. Leclerc was able to split the Alpine's now fifth. With under twenty minutes left in the session both Williams cars would return again on the soft tyre. But quickly they would pit with the pair splitting their runs one on the medium tyre and the other the hard as there was just fifteen minutes remaining in the session. Drivers were on longer runs with a split between the medium and hard tyres. The session would end with Verstappen remaining quickest from Bottas and Hamilton. Alonso was fourth followed by Leclerc, Ocon, Gasly, Sainz, Raikkonen, and Norris tenth. The Williams drivers would remain 17th and 18th and again very much where one would expect them to be.

George Russell:
In an attempt to make up time George was out very early in the second Friday session coming out on the medium tyre. He would set a 1m:37.201 to go quickest of only temporarily. He would drop to sixth then seventh. As more times were set he was now 16th and behind his team-mate to be 16th. George would pit after a four lap run. A 1m:36.295 would see George only 18th and behind his team-mate. A 1m:35.409 from George would still see him behind Nicholas and in 18th. Finally George would improve setting a 1m:35.266 to now be 17th moving ahead of Nicholas. After a five lap run he would join Nicholas in his pit. But shortly after he was back out again on the soft tyre but they were used. George would also pit switching to a medium tyre. He would complete an eleven lap run pitting with the end of the session.

Nicholas Latifi:
Nicholas would follow his team-mate out running on the hard tyre for the start of the session. A 1m:37.432 would see Nicholas 7th dropping to 15th. A 1m:36.210 would see Nicholas move ahead of his team-mate to be 15th. After a four lap run Nicholas would pit. Nicholas would return this time on the soft tyre. Even though he would improve with a 1m:35.331 he was only 17th. Nicholas would pit after a five lap run still 17th. Nicholas would return for a further run on used soft tyres but he would pit quickly switching to the hard tyre. With the end of the session he would pit after an eleven lap run.

 
Russell
 
Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap
1  Max Verstappen Red Bull 21 1'32.872  
2  Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 27 1'32.880 0.008
3  Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 23 1'33.125 0.253
4  Fernando Alonso Alpine 25 1'33.340 0.468
5  Charles Leclerc Ferrari 23 1'33.550 0.678
6  Esteban Ocon Alpine 23 1'33.685 0.813
7  Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 25 1'33.696 0.824
8  Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 24 1'33.698 0.826
9  Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 26 1'33.786 0.914
10  Lando Norris McLaren 24 1'33.822 0.950
11  Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 23 1'33.831 0.959
12  Sergio Perez Red Bull 24 1'33.921 1.049
13  Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 25 1'33.955 1.083
14  Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 24 1'34.079 1.207
15  Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 25 1'34.447 1.575
16  Lance Stroll Aston Martin 24 1'34.632 1.760
17  George Russell Williams 25 1'35.266 2.394
18  Nicholas Latifi Williams 25 1'35.331 2.459
19  Mick Schumacher Haas 24 1'35.512 2.640
20  Nikita Mazepin Haas 23 1'35.551 2.679
 
Latifi
 

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